Nephilim & Woozles
by KippEvenS
Summary: A DmC/Winnie the Pooh crossover Follow Dante as he returns to his family home, embraces his past and discovers the truth of his origin...in a slightly less-bleaker setting.
1. -Paradise-

-PARADISE-

The car engine hummed low as it proceeded down the long driveway, Autumn leaves strewn along the path and scattering in retreat as the tyres carried the vehicle on towards the entrance. As it pulled up outside the semi-broken mansion doors, the motor became silent, and three dark figures stepped out.

Vergil, the tallest of the three, led them up the stony steps; his silver hair masked by a fashionable trilby hat, the same oceanic blue that he had chosen for his long overcoat and trousers. His pace was slow but stern, breathing in the air of lost familiarity that haunted his childhood home still standing before them; Kat, the youngest of the three, followed closely behind him, her dirty grey hood covering her face and her hands in her pockets, silently calculating her thoughts as she kept in line with the one man who had found her so very long ago; lost in the same darkness that she now helped to fight against.

The runt of the pack, dragging his feet slowly behind, and twisting in movement as he took his surroundings in with greater depth, was Dante. He maintained, with idle effort, the appearance of a young thug - his long red and black overcoat hanging low, covering a loose, black tank top; two guns sat in holsters at his sides, accompanied by a significantly large broadsword which remained strapped to his back.

Vergil carefully swept open the doors and led them onwards into the building. The walls were of ivory colour once, and became a canvas for the inevitable damp that became a regular visitor over the years; Dante swept some dust, that had come loose from the dilapidated roof beams above, from his short jet-black hair.

"Here should do fine."

Dante recognised Vergil's voice as it slowly trickled with echo down the hallway, and as they got closer he noticed that their female comrade had since taken a spray-can and scroll out of her hip pouch.

Kat drew her hood back - long, black hair falling at either side of her face, and she pushed some away from her eyes as she began to shake the can vigorously - with use of her free hand, the scroll became unfolded and a stencil rested upon the floor. Kat began to cover it with the black residue expelling from the spray-can.

Dante took a slow breath as he continued to look around; many of the portraits - though still presentably hung in place - had been torn at and left to disintegrate. He inhaled once more, then coughed and quickly cupped his mouth and nose with the palm of his hand. He turned to the young woman. "Jesus, that's...delightful. What the hell's in that?"

"Sea salt, shark oil, iron shavings," Kat began, never looking away as she continued. "Desiccated coconut, squirrel semen, wolf-"

"You know what?" Dante interrupted, holding a hand out. "Forget I ever asked." The young companion laughed quietly to herself as she continued to fill out the stencil. Vergil moved forward slightly and addressed the other male.

"You remember I told you earlier, Dante, of the rifts we use to access the demon world? This..." He indicated with an open palm to the finished mark on the floor, as Kat rolled her stencil back up and packed it back into her pouch. "This mark is a gateway to that place. Dante, it is crucial that you pay attention to what you see when you enter here."

Dante nodded slowly, rubbing the back of his head tentatively as he cast a gaze between both of his companions. "So, what, I just step on this thing and it takes me somewhere new?" Kat nodded.

"Not new, Dante," Vergil replied. "To another version of this mansion. Seek the truth, and you will find it. I have every bit of faith in you." The taller male rested an encouraging hand upon Dante's shoulder, and he smiled awkwardly but could think of no better way to break the contact than by petting Vergil's hand, little attempt at reassurance, before moving out of arm's length and straight for the pattern on the floor.

Dante stood before them both as Vergil spoke again. "Don't be afraid. This is your home, Dante."

He smirked. "Who said I was afraid?" He gazed around one last time. "Strange...I don't remember any of this."

"You will." Vergil replied. Suddenly, an invisible force began to work upon the pattern below Dante's feet - slowly, it crept in a small twister around his whole body, pushing dust along the floor that had long-since rested there, and soon all Kat and Vergil could see was the rest of the hallway, stretching out endlessly towards a large, open room.

"Do you doubt him?" Vergil had sensed Kat's concern - in the empty space, he had detected a small sigh from her lips. Their eyes locked.

"I trust your judgement, Vergil, but...we don't know what he'll find once he's in there."

Vergil paused - slowly, his gaze casted back over the spray on the ground, where a man most familiar had just stood. "Whatever happens, happens - but Dante needs to see the secrets of this place," Vergil closed his eyes. "Even if what he sees there haunts him for the rest of his life."


	2. -Pooh Corner-

Flowers. Flowers everywhere.

Dante stood alone within a glade of honeysuckle, the gentle breeze around him pushing its overwhelming scent, and he could do nought but accept it into his system as he breathed in and out hesitantly. Dante slowly took a full 360-turn, licked his lips and parted them; the silence of the scenery, belied only by the young man's voice as he slowly spoke.

"What in the shitting hell is this?"

Returning silence, then nothing more. Dante clenched his fists gently, rubbing his fingers into his palms as he considered his options carefully - he called out for Vergil, and for Kat, but there came no reply from either. 'How the hell am I supposed to leave this damn place', he thought. Only one option stood out, and it seemed to be the most likely - seek the truth Vergil alluded to.

He sighed, shrugging his shoulders and shoving his hands into his pockets; his boots made for heavy footsteps through the glade, caring little for the scenery as crushed honeysuckle created a trail back for him. Out of the corner of his eye, approaching a thick and gloomy forest ahead of him, he thought he saw a small figure moving quickly through the tall grass.

The shaded trees produced no wind on the road taken by Dante, who kicked stones to pass the time as he walked. At one point, he had crossed a bridge, and took a brief pause to throw a nearby twig down into the river below him, watching it float from one end before moving to the other side and catching it's reappearance. He smirked to himself, though he knew not why, and continued along the endless trail.

He ran his fingers through his messy hair, yawning aloud to himself - or, so he had originally believed, to be himself alone. There came, however, several short instances where he thought he could hear a rustling amongst the grass. On a few occasions, he even diverted from his path to investigate, but each distraction produced no result other than the motivation to press forward.

Eventually the trail led to a small clearing, and as he emerged he was greeted by a small house, silhouetted by the gradually sinking sunlight, casting a sharp orange over the forest; a small sign hung above an old-fashioned doorbell, reading 'MR SANDERS'. Dante regarded this as he scraped the underside of his boots against the slightly thicker twigs that littered the small campfire out front. "Mr Sanders, huh? Hope he's got some chicken cooking." He paced forward and turned the doorknob. "I'm starving."

He opened the door and slowly entered the homely space. The house was much darker on the inside than the slow twilight would allow to reveal, and it seemed as if nothing had been used in a while; a thin coat of dust covered the dining table and wall-shelves, honey pots scattered lidless in small clusters, and especially in a somewhat larger pile by the only bed in the house, sitting neatly beside the front window. Dante moved in and dragged his fingertip nonchalantly across a small section of the table, idly rubbing it between his fingers as he stared curiously at the pile of honeypots.

"Y-Y-You shouldn't be here." A small voice shuddered behind the young man, who turned quickly and, in doing so, had drawn the ebony twin of his dual firearms and pointed it at the doorway. Only light shone through, and the glare of it forced Dante's eyes to squint. They relaxed as they became used to the sight, and as they drew fully open Dante noticed a tiny figure in the doorway - it appeared to be a pig, though it was considerably thin and standing on its hind legs. Dante pointed his gun towards it and the creature stepped back cautiously, whimpering behind its hands as it stared innocently up at him. "Oh d-d-d-dear, you don't r-r-remember me, d-do you?" Dante raised an eyebrow - it wasn't the strangest thing he'd come across that day, but this was certainly a turn for the books. He slowly withdrew his gun and returned it to its holster, recognising the piglet's timidity.

"Who are you, little...pig...thing?"

It shuffled forward nervously towards Dante, never breaking contact with him as it stretched a small arm out, lightly tugging on his trouser leg as he stared up. "O-Oh my, y-y-you've grown quite a b-bit." The small animal chuckled nervously, then yelped and promptly backed away as the human knelt onto one knee to have a closer look.

"You...Why do you look so familiar?"

"Y-Y-You used to play with me, remember?" The small creature replied, which spurred a slight look of disgust from the young man, and so the little piglet continued. "You and your b-brother used to sword fight, a-and you'd pretend we'd all b-be watching-"

"Woah woah woah, back up!" Dante created a time-out signal with his hands, halting the animal in its tracks. "Did you just say 'my brother'? What brother?"

The piglet stammered as it tried to express its thoughts, although the question was indeed a peculiar one, and not particularly easy to answer. "Y-Y-You don't r-remember you have a brother?"

The male glanced away in thought. "That must have been what Vergil was talking about."

"Th-That's him!"

Dante glanced back at the creature. "What's him?" He replied. The pink-coloured creature jumped up and down with a joy that felt somewhat held-back.

"Vergil's your b-b-brother!"

Dante was taken aback, and his eyes widened slightly at the remark. "W-What are you..." Suddenly, a flood of images swam through his mind, and his head became heavy as his hands struggled to keep it up. Eyes clenched, Dante snarled through the strange sensation filling his head, but throughout it all, fragments of scattered memories came back to him; an image of the young animal - 'Piglet' - and two young boys, hair of black and hair of white, duelling with wooden swords as they laughed, parrying and lunging at each other with each strike.

Then, as suddenly as they appeared, the memories faded away and he returned to the dank, clustered space of Mr Sanders' residence. He stared at the animal trembling before him, slowly smiling. "You're Piglet."

Piglet peeked carefully from behind its hands, soon bringing them down and twiddling them together with a hopeful smile. "Y-You remember me?"

Dante nodded. "Yeah, I remember you. And Vergil...Vergil is my-" A sudden, vicious rumble echoed around the house, causing the furniture to shake; honeypots fell and broke upon the floor, and as one rolled across towards the two beings, a bony yellow arm stretched out and swiftly grabbed Piglet by its legs, dragging him across the floor. Dante stretched an arm out as Piglet cried out, but his small voice was soon extinguished by the darkness of the honeypot as the bony hand dragged him in fully. Dante looked on in shock; he felt the ground vibrate beneath him, and without warning it crumbled beneath his fingertips and opened up to nothingness. He sank quickly into the abyss, crying out for his companions - for his family.


	3. -100 Acre Abyss-

The sound of a dull thud echoed around the vast area, shrouded by darkness - soon followed by a low, pained groan from a man who against all odds had managed to survive what seemed like an eternity of falling. Slowly, Dante's hands pressed down into the cold, wet ground and he raised his upper body up first. He took a breath in, but immediately exhaled a slaughter of heavy coughs, some producing blood as it pattered down from his lips.

He wiped his mouth, and sat back tenderly onto his knees, breathing carefully so as not to exacerbate the pain, and took in the shroud of darkness surrounding him. He groaned again, but this time out of frustration and with such a manner that would seem unreasonable for a man who, one would have thought, should already be dead.

"Christ." He uttered through the pain. "Well THAT was fun." Dante grunted as he raised himself up and onto his feet, lowering himself forward slightly to pat away residue from the fall-

"Wait, what?"

Dante straightened up, rubbing his fingers into the palms of his hands; nothing. Where he had felt dampness not so long before, an odd warmth and dryness now presented itself. In fact, the warmth had begun to surround Dante quite quickly, and sensing this might not have been just a coincidence, the young man slowly drew his handguns from their holsters.

Without warning, a great light split the darkness all around him - a large circle of flame stopping Dante from escape in any direction. He quickly scanned around him, and saw a quickening trail of black liquid draining to a large mass in the middle. Dante stared in awe as the mass quickly grew bigger and bigger, raising itself and taking viscous form. From within, several appendages arose; a great, brown wing, a long bitten and moulting tail of orange and black; and the great head of a bear, it's fur sickly yellow, eyes of blood red, and an unmistakeable snarl on its face.

The creature stared at the lone male, whose eyes widened at the sight. "What the fu-"

The creature's voice bellowed throughout the chasm, cutting off Dante and causing him to stagger back a little. "SPARDAAA! FEED MEEE!"

"Jesus!" Dante holstered one of his guns as he reached into his back pocket. "Sorry, but your voice is a turn-off."

The creature's voice continued to call out for its hunger to be fulfilled; Dante pulled out the remains of his Walkman from the pocket, looking over the shards of plastic and wire before sighing. "Terrific." He dusted the remnants from his hands, turning his attention back to the demon in front of him.

As he brought the second gun back into his hand, Dante knelt and with one swift motion brought his guns ahead of him, aiming at the creature's face. His fingers locked again and again into the weight of the triggers, a flurry of bullets raining out and piercing the creature's tough skin as it writhed back and forth. In the pause where Dante needed to reload, the grizzly monstrosity opened it's mouth; within, a golden light began to form, growing brighter as its mouth remained open. Dante raised a brow, but made swift work of moving from where he stood.

With one long, sickly roar, a flood of golden liquid erupted from the creature's mouth and poured out across a great distance, the bear carefully following the being's path.

Dante ran as fast as he could around to the side of the creature, where the bear's head could no longer reach with its spray of honey-bile. As he readied himself, he began to pot-shot at the large wing, which flapped manically and created a gust of wind around the open space, fanning the flames all over and pushing Dante back bit by bit.

As he carried on antagonising the creature, Dante felt a surge of images reappear within his head; a beautiful woman with crimson hair, wearing a long white dress, stood before a younger form of himself. She knelt, and placed a chained necklace around his neck, encrusted with a large red jewel, and stroked his cheek. Her hand felt so soft; it was as if she was right there with him. Her eyes shone with the same warmth as her smile, and she spoke softly.

"My Dante."

He snapped out of it; Dante had a brief pause to gather his thoughts - the remaining bullets remaining within his companions - and tried to make sense of it.

'Was that...Was that my mother...?' He thought, darting back and forth inside his mind to try and piece together the flood of memories that came back to him. It did not take him long to convince himself - he was so sure now. 'That was-'

Dante looked up, and the world went to white. The extensive tail that grew from within the chaotic mass had, in its opportunity, whirled around above both beings, and brought itself forcefully around to ground level - the force of the impact threw Dante back as far as the ring of fire, his left hand close to the open flame as his unconscious body lay with it.


	4. -Son of Sparda-

Dante's body floated within the darkness of his mind. His muscles locked, eyes resting tightly as the shock of the pain continued to flow trough him like an unending wave, up and down through every cell and every nerve.

Anything and everything played out on his mind; they weaved around the patches of nothingness where memories were either repressed or no-more, and Dante saw in his mind the events of not too long ago. The great werewolf - if one could call it that - launching itself in leaps and bounds over a demonic fairground; the young lady, who kept her hood up for the entire drive they took through the cityscape, and the tall, well-dressed man who brought all three to the house that was 'Paradise'.

As clusters of memories began to stir into a mental tornado, Dante's mind's eye generated an extending hand that drew closer and closer to him. A voice called to him. "Rise, my son."

"...Dad..?"

Slowly, the pale hand of a child met it, allowing hold. A thick, shimmering halo of red grew around the meeting of grasps, following by a sharp light.

"Rise - son of Sparda."

Dante's eyes shot open. With seconds to waste, he rolled around and twisted his hand around to his upper back and, taking hold of the broadsword upon his back, he returned onto his back and guarded himself from the second battering from the same tail that took him out.

"Fuck this!" With renewed energy, his rage and excitement forced an alien pulse throughout his whole body.

Dante's hair turned to steel white, spiking high with the flow of energy - the dual impact of the tail against him, and the shock of this sudden trigger, created a sonic boom that ruptured the snarling creature's ears, and it roared out in agony, withdrawing its coiling appendage. The young man - the awakened devil - released a roar of his own as he ran towards the dark mass, dragging the sharp tip of his weapon across the ground behind him.

The creature's wing flapped maniacally back and forth, and two sickly yellow arms quickly broke out from the body, palms slamming to the ground as they dragged and pulled the creature forward. The bear's head opened its mouth wide and the shining yellow light from within began to grow - but Dante was faster, stronger, better; with a single swing, he and his sword tore through the creature's gelatinous flesh, reappearing at the backside of it.

The creature stalled, shaking quickly as the head raised up, coughed, and expelled its sickly gold liquid like a fountain over itself. As he turned, Dante watched as the same liquid smothered and corroded at the demonic beast, sinking into itself as each appendage writhed and returned to the nothingness, the mass quickly returning to nothing but a puddle on the floor.

Dante took a moment to catch his breath; his hair returning to black, his lips dry and cracked from the adrenaline. He looked up, and a faint light shone, before its seeming warmth sucked him up, and carried him away.


	5. -Epilogue-

Dust and leaves brushed gently in the breeze, and Vergil and Kat quickly found that the breeze came from no doorway, no window - but from the same pattern upon the floor where their comrade once stood. And, slowly but surely, he stood there once again. The couple arose from their separate spots on the floor, rising to their feet as they moved over to him.

"Dante!" Vergil spoke with subtle amazement - as if he'd begun to lose hope in the safe return of the younger man. "You took your time." Dante exchanged a look to Kat, who smiled quickly at him. "Did you see it?"

"Yeah..." Dante turned, his face a mixture of bewilderment and relief. "Yeah, I saw a lot down there." He paced slowly around both of them as he recalled all that he saw. "Our home. Our mother - you," He exchanged a quick look to Vergil. "My brother." Vergil nodded with a knowing smile. Dante continued. "Our father...'Sparda'...and...some weird, demon thing..." Dante lowered his head. "It...It took Piglet..."

"What?" Vergil's voice held confusion, wondering if he had heard him correctly; Kat, meanwhile, tried to stifle a small giggle behind the tips of her fingers. Dante looked up at her with a seriousness unbecoming of the situation.

"Piglet. He...He got taken by the demons..."

"Damnit, Piglet." The stern tone came from Dante's side, and followed with a frustrated sigh. "He couldn't just leave well enough alone."

Dante turned with a raised brow. "What do you mean?" Kat poked her head out to face them both.

"Wait, are you both talking about the same thing? That pink toy we shredded for the spra-"

"Kat!"

Vergil glared at her, but it was too late. Dante was distraught, shooting his brother an even harsher glare. "Piglet...You put my Piglet into the fucking spray-can?! What the hell is wrong with you?!" Dante became hysterical. "You tore my fucking tot up-" With that, Vergil turned on his heels and locked eye-contact with Dante.

"It serves him right! It's what he deserves." Dante couldn't believe his ears. He stared at his brother in disbelief. "It's what YOU get, Dante."

"What the hell does that mean...?"

"You know damn well!" Vergil snarled. "You broke Tigger's tail using him as a dagger!"

Dante looked away in thought and, remembering, scoffed in annoyance. "I was proving a point, you dick!"

"And what point would that be, Dante?" Vergil moved in close, their eyes never breaking contact and a burning rage flickering between them both.

A delicate hand raised itself, as Kat watched them both with growing concern. "Areeeee you really gonna ruin everything because of two stuffed ani-"

"STAY OUT OF THIS!"

The two males' voices bellowed down the corridor. Kat stepped back in careful panic, drawing ever closer to the door. Both brothers turned back to each other, sealing their fate with no further words - they stepped back from each other; Dante reached back and slowly drew his sword from his back. Vergil, meanwhile, had parted his coat slightly from his side where a long sheath sat at his belt. Slowly, he caresses the gorgeous sapphire hilt, before firmly grasping it and withdrawing the long, thin blade.

Dante, and Vergil - sons of angel and demon. Childhood rivals. Warring adults. Nihil novi sub sole.

~Fin~


End file.
